I am loving this bold royal blue and bright red tea towel. It mixes typical London iconography such as crowns, soldiers, a tube sign and Westminster Abbey, with bunting, a corgi chewing a union jack and a wedding car trailing posh artifacts!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Christopher and I have decided to switch adoption agencies. We will now be adopting our little boy through Celebrate Children International (CCI). I want to start out by saying that we have NOTHING negative to say about AGCI. They are a wonderful agency. They were extremely friendly, organized, and very helpful. They called us every two weeks to check in. They sent us an adoption planning binder that was VERY helpful.

Then, why you ask, are we changing??? Bottom line: the wait time for CCI is MUCH shorter. With AGCI we would be waiting around a year for a referral. With CCI it could be a matter of weeks. Currently, there are no families on the waiting list with our gender and age parameters. They have a wonderful reputation. We know 3 families who are using them (2 personally and 1 blogger friend). They are a small agency, and only work with a certain number of families at a time. Sue, the director and Ethiopia program coordinator, travels to Ethiopia each month, so they are fully invested in this program.

So, that's it for now! We will continue to keep you posted during this process. Thank you all for your continued love and support.

Monday, April 25, 2011

I just wanted to give a shout out to my precious 6th graders (as they were my very first followers!). They were probably the funnest (I know, I'm a bad teacher, not a real word. But I teach history, not grammar) group to tell that we were adopting. They asked lots of good questions, and they totally got "it." They understood why we wanted to do this. A couple of them looked like they were going to cry, which was just way too cute!

I told them about the video that inspired us to adopt in the first place (which I mentioned here Lucy Lane's Gotcha Day"). So may of them went home and watched it and even showed their parents. They came back to school telling me how they too cried when they watched it!

Today they surprised me with a check for...$500
to put toward our adoption! WOW! I was so stunned!

People think you're crazy when you teach middle school (and I probably am a little lot). But I LOVE it! To me they are a great age to teach; the perfect balance between child and adult.

So, to my sweet "Greenies," thank you for your sweet smiles, constant encouragement, and for making it a joy to come to work every single day. You are truly a special group and I will never forget you. I know you will achieve great things in life. But above all, I hope that you will remember the most important things I tried to teach you (and it has NOTHING to do with ancient cultures!), and that is to be a person of good character. Be kind to others. Thats what's important. I love you!

Friday, April 22, 2011

Just a reminder to come to the Loveless Spring Arts Festival at the Loveless Cafe tomorrow from 10:00-4:00. You can snag your Africa shirts there! And maybe you may even see Christopher and I if you come. Double lucky you!

Today I got to spend some of my Good Friday hanging out with my adorable nephews so that my AWESOME sister-in-law Andrea could work on the shirts. I got to play mama to a 4 year old and an 18 month old for a few hours, which was lots of fun! LOVE LOVE LOVE my nephews! And it's great practice for the future! We had a blast eating at Bread & Company (our favorite restaurant), going to the park, playing in the creek and getting dirty (gotta love little boys), and visiting my mom and sister at their school (they were not as lucky as I was to be out for Good Friday). The car rides are always my favorite. You never know what a 4 year old is going to tell you! Today we worked on a few new dance moves. So far he likes to: raise the roof, do windshield wipers, and the Jersey Shore fist pump). He also has some mad shoulder-shrugging skills! His new favorite song is "Gettin' Jiggy With It." (Gotta love Will Smith! haha!) What a fun day!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

I am excited to announce that you can get your very own Africa Hope series shirt THIS WEEKEND! My amazing sister-in-law Andrea(who I have mentioned before here) has been hard at work making t-shirts to sell for us! You can buy them THIS WEEKEND at the Loveless Spring Arts Festival. The festival will be held at the famous Loveless Cafe from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. So, come out and support all of the artists and also buy a shirt!

Here are just a few pictures of the beautiful shirts. Each shirt is hand dyed and the logo is screenprinted by hand onto the tee. So, as you can see they are a labor of love and the results are amazing! There are lots of other colors as well, so come check them out!

This picture is MY FAVORITE because the adorable model happens to be my nephew Jack!

Most of the t-shirt designs contains ADINKRA SYMBOLS, which are part of an African textile tradition that began in the 16th century. Stamped or printed onto cloth, each symbol has a its own name and unique meaning. Adinkra symbols communicate words of wisdom or praises based on inspirational proverbs, historical events, human attitudes and behaviors, social values, or religious beliefs.

NSOROMMA-"Child of the heavens"-Symbol of guardianship; reminder that God is the Father and watches over all people

My sister-in-law is so generously donating the money from the sales from these amazing shirts to hel﻿p us bring her nephew home! So come to the Loveless Cafe on Saturday so you can snag yours before we're out!

Friday, April 15, 2011

Friends of ours who are also adopting from Ethiopia are having a yard sale tomorrow. You can find some great deals AND help bring their sweet Lucy home. For a donation of $5 or more, they will also be selling cookbooks full of their family favorites. The official kick-off is tomorrow at 7:00 am.

***And don't forget: today is the last day to enter or very first giveaway! The drawing will take place Saturday afternoon (I had originally posted that the drawing would be held Friday) Click here to read the details and enter!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Remember these aprons I raved about in our Give Hope Adoption Auction? (If you don't click here, here, here, or here to see them. They were quite a hot commodity!). Well, enter for a chance to WIN one of your own? Our good friends from mrs donated another apron! And who doesn't love free stuff?!

Here's How to Enter:
1. Become a follower of The Wayman Family Nest
2. "Like" The Wayman Family Nest on Facebook
3. "Like" mrs on Facebook

Comment on this post letting me know if you have done one, two, or all three of the things above. If you're already a follower or like us on Facebook, be sure to still leave a comment to be included in the drawing. The winner will be annouced on Friday!

Check out the original post here. This item would make a great gift for a new mommy or for your own little one. The winner will get to choose their color scheme. If you are interested, please leave a comment with your name and e-mail address and starting bid. I will end the bidding for this item TOMORROW night at 8:00, so hapy bidding!

(Disclaimer: I am in NO WAY paid by West Elm to endorse their items. I'm just an obsessed customer who is fond of their pretty things!)

I am LOVING the new arrivals at West Elm! There are so many things that would make a great addition to our home (hint hint to the hubbie!). The charming prints and fresh pops of color would be sure to brighten up any room. I love the Mediterranean feel of many of the arrivals. Makes me ready for summer!